ROCKFORD — One of the Rockford School District’s first community input sessions at a school slated for closure in newly unveiled plans brought out residents with a lot of questions.

About 50 people attended the informational meeting Tuesday at Walker Elementary. Unlike the meeting Monday at Washington Academy, which drew mostly parents and families curious about plans to move the gifted program to another building, seats at the Walker meeting mainly were filled with neighbors and school staff.

“It’s just sad,” said Mark Marinaro, a retired firefighter who lives two blocks from the school. “The school is what holds this neighborhood together, and it’s going to be gone. ... I hate to see what happens to property values when this building closes.”

That said, Marinaro thinks the district’s overall plan to shut seven to nine elementary schools, make renovations to the rest and maybe even build up to two schools is a good one.

“It’s probably good for the School District,” he said. “It’s just not good for the neighborhood.”

Several others echoed Marinaro’s concerns, asking questions of presenters — Jude Makulec, vice president of the School Board, and Dennis Harezlek, a retired superintendent — for nearly two hours.

Lost so much

Walker School is in Churchill’s Grove, a near-downtown neighborhood known for its older houses, rich architecture and charming neighborhood feel. The school is one of the few structures left in the area besides homes.

Barb Ferry, a resident of 38 years, remembers when she could walk to anything she needed.

“I could walk my kids to the physician. I could walk to the grocery store. I could walk to the drugstore and buy supplies. I could mail a package,” she said. “I guess times change, and this neighborhood has changed. ... It’s hard because we have lost so much.”

Makulec and Harezlak, who served on the facilities task force that helped the district come up with the three options to consolidate elementary schools, assured homeowners that the district will not let the building turn into an eyesore or fall into the wrong hands.

Each plan includes money to demolish the closed buildings.

That pleased Ferry. If the school cannot remain, she said, a park would be her second choice.

Reluctantly, Ferry agreed with Marinaro about the district’s proposal. “It’s a wonderful concept. What I’m feeling is a personal loss.”

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Mitch Siergiej was one of few parents at the meeting.

Siergiej has two daughters who attend Walker, which serves 416 kindergarten through fifth-grade students. He’s been volunteering there the past couple of years to help make the school better. His son is headed there for kindergarten.

In the new plans, Siergiej’s home on Haskell Avenue is in the Ellis Elementary zone.

“I’m kind of really against them closing it,” he said. “The other two are going to other schools next year, so my son would be the only one affected. ... According to the website, Ellis is a failing school.”

The district is hosting meetings at each of its elementary schools and four other locations in the community this month to gather feedback on its plans.

Special programs like gifted education, early-childhood education and Montessori move to different buildings in each of the three plans.

On the table

Other schools targeted for closure: Dennis Early Education Center, King, West View, Kishwaukee, Thompson and Cherry Valley. If the board decides to build two schools, it will close White Swan and Nelson, too.

No changes would be made next school year.

The district plans to spend $100 million on elementary schools in the next 10 years. Most of the money comes from cash reserves and the $139 million bond referendum that voters approved in 2012.

To learn more about the district’s plans or read feedback from the community input sessions, visit rps205.com/betterschools.